Lot 1057
1057
CHINA -- KIRCHER, A. La Chine, illustrée de plusieurs monuments tant sacrés que profanes, et de quantité de recherchés de la nature & de l'art. Avec un dictionaire chinois & françois. Trad. p. F.S. Dalquié. Amst., J. Jansson à Waesberge, 1670. (14), 367, 12 pp. W. engr. ti., 2 double-p. maps, 23 engr. plates (1 fold.) & 60 text-engrs. Fol. Mod. artificial hcf. (Portr. of Kircher lacks, some plates w. (small) tears/rep., rather browned/foxed in places, lower inner margin a bit stained).
First French edition. Richly illustrated work on China, which includes geography, ethnography, religious history, natural history, architecture and philology as well as various travel routes. The work of the Jesuit and baroque polymath Kircher was groundbreaking for Europe's knowledge of China because of its scientific thoroughness. First published in Latin in 1667, the Indian Devanagari characters are made accessible to the occidental world for the first time. By reproducing the inscription from Xiang, Kircher proved that Christianity was known in China centuries ago. - Caillet II, 5774; Cordier, Sinica I, 26; De Backer-Sommervogel IV, 1064, 24; Lipperheide Le 3.€ 500
result € 1400
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